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The number of guns on the streets of the Big Apple has fallen — again.

Cops recovered 5,537 firearms from criminal suspects last year compared to 5,129 in 2008 — an eight percent decline, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Most of the guns came from states already roundly criticized by Mayor Bloomberg for being lax on background checks — led by Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.

“While gun dealers in the five states where we sued dealers remain in the top ten source states for crime guns, the number of crime guns from those states dropped by 19 percent between 2006 – the year we filed those lawsuits — and 2009,” Bloomberg said.

The mayor heralded the fourth year in a row, the number of crime guns recovered here have dropped – from 7,059 in 2006 to 5,135 in 2009.

An ATF spokesman said the weapons recovered were not recently manufactured, which meant the flow of newly minted weapons was also continuing to decline — 527 so-called “low time” guns were seized last year compared to 527 in 2006.

“This progress is a testament to the vigorous efforts of the men and women of the NYPD, tough new state laws, and the City’s innovative litigation,” he said.

“The ATF data validates our illegal gun trafficking strategy, and we will continue to do everything we can to keep illegal guns off our streets and keep New Yorkers safe.”

The ATF report comes at a time when a shrinking NYPD is struggling to keep gun violence and serious crime at levels not seen here since the early 1960s.

So far this year, overall crime is down 1.1 percent —- but murders are up 20 percent, from 119 last year to 143 through last Sunday. And shootings are up 14.8 percent so far this year, to 373 from 325 for the same period last year. Gun arrests this year are down slightly to 1,222 compared to 1,234 last year.